By Kayla Calhoun
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
James Charles, a YouTube beauty vlogger who has millions of subscribers, has been cancelled. But what, exactly, does that mean?
Charles, the first male CoverGirl ambassador, became embroiled in controversy earlier this month when, according to an article in Vox, another beauty guru named Tati Westbrook posted a video highlighting the ways in which Charles betrayed her friendship on his way to fame. According to Vox,
It wasn’t just about the interpersonal drama, however — Westbrook stoked even bigger flames by digging into what she claimed was Charles’s predatory behavior toward other men…Since Westbrook released the video, Charles has bled more than 3 million subscribers from his channel and become the villain of the YouTube community. Celebrities and cosmetic brands have symbolically stopped following him in solidarity with Westbrook, and some of his closest friends have publicly dropped him.
In just under a week after the video was posted, Twitter users were already declaring that Charles was “cancelled.”
Me when I saw James Charles getting „cancelled“ today after I hated him all the time pic.twitter.com/mWPpOc5jLu
— goddamn follow me if you like my tweets (@bluefacesson) May 11, 2019
James Charles being cancelled by the entire internet in a day is the modern version of Caesar being stabbed 23 times by the Roman senate but much funnier
— Beans After Dark (@goodbeanalt) May 11, 2019
I think Tati has just cancelled James Charles… pic.twitter.com/VUYGFPp043
— Kaitlyn (@Beanastr0naut1) May 10, 2019
Charles joined a growing list of social media influencers, entertainers and other celebrities who have been shunned by fans and their broader creative communities. So far, since the #MeToo movement began, more than 200 men in the entertainment industry and in politics have been effectively cancelled — among them, Harvey Weinstein, Louis C.K., Michael Jackson and Aziz Ansari.
This trend of cancelling anyone in the public eye (such as singers, actors, movie producers, etc.) has, unquestionably, led to more scrutiny of the behavior of men in positions of power.
However, with the term cancelled not having a set definition, it can be really hard to decide what actions are cancel-worthy. Television shows can be cancelled. Plans can be cancelled. But what, really, does it mean for a person who is still alive and in the spotlight to be cancelled? I asked Towson students to share their definition and discuss what cancelling means to them.
What is cancel culture?
For many people, such as Nichole Crissman, a Towson University junior, cancelled simply means to end something, like ending a TV show or series. However, in the entertainment and literary world, this term has taken on a meaning of its own.
Although the definition has many meanings, Macmillan defines cancel culture as, “the practice of no longer supporting people, especially celebrities, or products that are regarded as unacceptable or problematic.”
For many college students, cancel culture can be a very specific thing.
“When you stop liking or listening to what any artist or content creator is doing just because they did something problematic,” said Kyara Pugh, a Towson senior. “It was okay when it was actually problematic and there were just a couple of people. Now people are being cancelled for stupid things.”
Pugh said cancel culture can become toxic when social media users dig up something that a celebrity said in the past as proof that people should stop supporting them. In her definition, cancelling artists and their work is solely opinion based and might not be rooted in anything.
“Like, we’re done with it,” said Shanda Kersey, a Towson senior. “So, if it’s like an artist, like a rapper, like Kodak Black is cancelled because of his rape charges. Like R. Kelly. It means not listening to his music, not going to his concerts, not supporting him anymore.”
For Kersey, cancelling a celebrity is dependent on the weight of the crime or action. In the case of singers like R. Kelly, his alleged crimes involving minors were serious, she said. Kersey notes that he should have been cancelled a long time ago because of how long his actions went on without repercussions.
In the case of Ansari, who was cancelled after a woman claimed that he had been inappropriate during a date, Kersey believes that the outrage of these actions might have been a little overblown. After the controversy, Ansari apologized, seeming to truly not know that what he was doing was making her uncomfortable. Kersey said she will not listen or watch anything put out by a person whom she cancels.
Macy Meyer, a Towson junior, has a similar definition.
“When something is deemed unworthy or bad or wrong, something that people should avoid,” she said. “So, I actually went to a reading a couple of weeks ago with Claudia Rankine, who wrote Citizen, and she thought that sometimes it was best to still acknowledge that people have talent but that them as a human being might not have that type of value.”
What Meyer is getting at is the idea of separating the artist, such as R. Kelly, from the art, or his music. The idea of separating the artist from the art means that people might still listen to/watch/read that celebrity’s work, however, they acknowledge that the person behind the work is deeply flawed.
On the other hand, people might choose to cancel a celebrity based on their own moral code and are unable to separate artists from their work.
“I cancel people because I am very religious and I hold my morals and values to a certain standard, said Nadja Henry, a Towson senior. “If I cancel you as an artist I am not going to [listen to your music] unless I am inclined. I feel like, yes, you can separate an artist from their work but at the same time can you really because they are their work.”
What are the effects of cancel culture?
Many critics believe that cancel culture is another way of silencing those with differing views.
For example, in a tweet by @htown_Joe, the writer describes cancel culture as another arm of “stay in your own lane,” or don’t write about something that the audience perceives the author doesn’t know about.
The idea of “stay in your lane” might have the adverse effect of stifling creative choices, even if the author or entertainer has done the appropriate amount of research on the subject. However, it could also open the way for more diverse entertainers or authors in a way that hasn’t really been seen before.
Another argument against cancel culture is that there are some instances in which people on Twitter and Facebook aren’t doing the appropriate research.
“The one thing that is definitely bad about cancel culture is that it can become a bandwagon,” Meyer said. “People won’t look up a situation completely and they will see a conversation sometimes taken out of context. Sometimes people will get wrongfully cancelled and, on a campus, people jump on it.”
However, there are some positives with this new outcry of canceling celebrities that are involved in scandal.
Celebrities and people in higher positions are held accountable for their actions, Kersey said. Thus, people are able to learn from their behaviors and rectify them.